There has long been an ambivalence about the man who was both the ultimate betrayer and the means by which God’s plan was fulfilled. The author of a new book visits the lonely place where the renegade apostle took his own life

Previous issues

Gerald O’Collins’ letter (The Tablet, 15 March) was timely. The 1998 translation of the Missal is still out there, crying out to be used. It is indeed a beautiful translation and of course was approved by all the English-speaking Conferences of Bishops. I have two problems. I understand that the Vox Clara version was submitted to the Conferences and approved. Why did the bishops change their collective minds so quickly?

I was so sad to read (The Tablet, 14 March) that 12 priests are endeavouring to "turn back the clock" on the more forward thinking and positive outcomes of last year's Synod on the Family. I am hoping that the tenor of the letter will be more encouraging and less draconian that it sounds at present.

I have been reading with awe the first of The Tablet's 50 Great Catholics (The Tablet, January 2015) and wondering who else might have been chosen. Of those who made a great impact on my Christian faith, two great Catholics stand out and I had the good fortune of living close to them and witnessing their living faith at very close hand.

I resonate deeply with the sentiments of Gerald O’Collins SJ (The Tablet 7 March 2015 ), expressed in such a gentle but heartfelt way, in his appeal to the English-speaking bishops of the world to pass on to their peoples without delay the excellent 1998 translation of the Mass, that was approved by all their Episcopal Conferences.

I couldn’t agree more with Joanna Moorhead’s description (28 February 2015) of how a married couple can find themselves estranged: "life chips away at them … because life is like that and people change and times change, and sometimes marriages – even ones begun in the best of circumstances, and for exactly the right reasons – can’t go on."

Both Francis McDonagh (“When the dream becomes a nightmare”, The Tablet , 28 February 2015) and Guy Consalmagno (“Global Warning”, The Tablet , 28 February 2015) drought events as evidence of climate change. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, however, is unable to establish any connection between anthropogenic activity and frequency of drought.

There must be many of us surprised to discover that Pope Francis is, after all, just as human as the rest of us. His inspiration and courage is like a beacon of hope, but his remarks on marriage ["Pope Francis 'truly sorry' for telling Catholics not to 'breed like rabbits'", The Tablet, 4 February] on returning from the Philippines could only cause distress.

With respect I think Fr Geoff Wheaton (The Tablet, 21 February 2015) misses the point of the decision to confirm the martyrdom of Archbishop Oscar Romero. The archbishop is not deemed to be a martyr because he said nice fuzzy warm things about the poor but because he was killed out of the tyrants' hatred for the Catholic faith.

I don't wish to deny the rise of anti-Semitism in these troubled times but neither do I think its extent should be over-inflated. At one point in his review of her book Unchosen: the memoirs of a philo-Semite, Ian Thomson writes (The Tablet, 14 February 2015): “It is all too easy for anti-Semites to equate Israel with the Jewish people as a whole, [Julie] Burchill argues convincingly.”

I read with interest Clifford Longley's discussion of the Church's position on fertilised ova (The Tablet, 21 February), particularly in the light of the recent decision by the European Court of Justice not to use fertilised ova in stem-cell research, a field of medical science which, like mitochondrial transfer, is intended to relieve countless misery.

In the light of Pope Francis' frequent and heartfelt admonitions to bishops, cardinals and all priests that they should "smell their sheep" and identify totally with those who are both spiritually and physically poor and marginalised, I fail to see the logic of dealing with the so-called Bishop of Bling by rewarding him with a secure, well paid and comfortable curial sinecure (The Church in the World, 14 February).

Regarding Dr James Campbell’s letter (The Tablet, 21 February) the one matter on which, perhaps, naivety could be laid at Thomas More's door is that of his hope for universal peace between the warring Christian princes of his time.

Your report on and condemnation of the recent massacre of Egyptian Coptic Christians should be seen in the context of the 100th anniversary this year of the most terrible war crime of the Great War, the Armenian genocide.

I was pleased to read that the address made by Pope Francis to the Vatican Conference (The Tablet, 14 February) was imbued with a great sense of urgency and immediacy to the ongoing discussion on "what shall we do with the women".

It is easy for Mr Fuentes-Nieva (The Tablet, Letters Extra, 12 February) to dismiss as “nonsense” serious criticisms of the Oxfam wealth figures. However, such criticisms come from many quarters and should not be dismissed lightly.

Peter Hennessy’s hope for 2015 voting intention (The Tablet, 7 February) may not be fulfilled because “parliament and parliamentarians are not currently the toast of the nation.” Up to a point, Lord H.

According to Eamon Duffy (The Tablet, 31 January), “Wolf Hall is meant to shape this generation’s perception” of what happened nearly 500 years ago in this country. But, as public opinion is and always has been shaped by the media, Wolf Hall is no exception.

I enjoyed Joanna Moorhead’s column (The Tablet, 7 February) thoroughly. I had 40 years in teaching, the last 20-odd at a sixth form college and can't help feeling that a major factor in the loss of that generation is the nonsense, as they see it, of

Philip Booth is guilty of wishful thinking when he questions our figures showing that the richest 1 per cent will next year own more wealth than the rest of us combined (Davos may be misguided but Oxfam is misleading, 23 January).

I was was spurred to enquire about Archbishop Oscar Romero when he was assassinated on the 24 March 1980 and his name was included at the last minute in the intercessions in Canterbury Cathedral at the enthronement of Robert Runcie as Archbishop of Canterbury on the 25 March.

Fr Robert Kaggwa (The Tablet, 7 February 2015), an unknown-known faithful follower of Christ, was, for years a passionate and consumed missionary of the reign of God. He was a very sensitive pastor, known to very many people but he remained unofficious and stood as a gate-keeper, at the threshold.

Late next month the last Plantagenet king will be laid to rest in Leicester Cathedral. There have been suggestions that his re-burial should take place in Westminster Cathedral, Westminster Abbey or in York.

Referring to Archbishop Michael Fitzgerald’s letter of 24 January listing the Religious who lost their lives in Algeria in the 1990’s, I would like to clarify the Congregations to which the Sisters belonged.

Fr. Joseph McCullough, in his letter (24 January) rebutting the charge that Roman Catholic schools are breeding grounds for sectarianism, could have cited the killing of Catholics by Sinn Fein's armed faction, the IRA (Catholic educated), as evidence that the problem in Northern Ireland is less sectarian and more ideological.

Thanks for prioritising Professor Duffy’s review of the TV rendition of Hilary Mantel’s fictional recreation of Thomas Cromwell and Thomas More in Wolf Hall ?(The Tablet, 31 January). Here in Melbourne I can’t wait for the local TV take-up.

If the six questions published by the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales are intended to elicit the views of the wide and varied Catholic population in this country, including those who currently feel excluded from the life of the church for various reasons, they should be much more focused on the issues that concern most people.

Interchurch families will be grateful to Archbishop Bernard Longley for his statement that pastoral provisions for Eucharistic sharing ‘deserve to be much better-known and more effectively used’ (“Together yet apart”, 24 January).

Harking back to Theo Hobson's article “It's all the same to them” [The Tablet, 13 December] and the poor outcomes when teaching “the beliefs, teachings and sources of wisdom” of various major religions, would we be better with a different focus rather than abandoning religious education in schools altogether?

I was initially puzzled by the title of Gabriel Daly's article, "Let battle commence", (The Tablet, 10 January). It brought to mind the often fruitless mutual quarrels of the sixteenth century. However his comment at the end: "The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith offends against justice and peace by identifying its own traditionalist opinions as the immutable teaching of the Church" recalled to mind the recent dismissal of bishop Bill Morris from his diocese in Australia.

Of all the reaction I have heard and read to the Charlie Hebdo murders, by far the most eloquent was French Muslim woman in a vox pops on Radio 4’s Today programme on 10 January who was a nearby resident – and reportedly sometime shopper – of the Jewish supermarket.

In your editorial, "Catholicism but not as we know it" (The Tablet, 10 January) the question is asked as to what exactly is the approach of Pope Francis to pastoral issues, and gives the example of the contemporary pressing issues of sexuality, marriage and family life.

Thank you for the editorial "For the Church and the World" (The Tablet, 3 January), which contains the golden words of Pope Benedict XVI, “that the world of reason and the world of faith … should not be afraid to enter into a profound and ongoing dialogue.”

The questioning by Lotte Rabitsch (Letters, 13 December) of the validity of my ordination is understandable, but the picture she presents of my ministry as a woman Catholic bishop in Austria is inaccurate.

As a priest who left active ministry to marry, I was somewhat taken aback when Cardinal Hume began to ordain former Anglican priests who had left their church mainly because of the decision to ordain women.

What a sad situation that has befallen the parish in Coventry where a priest who has had to leave in order to be with the person he loves has been replaced by a priest who has a wife and children (News, 13 December.)

While I was pleased to see Sally Read's article about Dorothy Day (The Tablet, 13 December) I was disappointed by the content. Dorothy's conversion is certainly a moving story, but it is hardly remarkable that as a Catholic she lived a chaste and sober life.

Among the many efforts to galvanise the Church since the New Pentecost initiatives of the 1960s and including the schemes designed to overcome the critical shortage of priests, one characteristic remains common.

While we appreciate Joanna Moorhead's sentiments (“There are no perfect marriages outside Hollywood, or perhaps outside of the Vatican”, The Tablet, 22 November), there are omissions in her summing up of the Vatican's "sepia-tinted movie version" of marriage.

Would you please convey my gratitude to Rose Prince for the Christmas Cake recipe (The Tablet, 6 December). For the last 43 years my late wife created beautiful drunken affairs but this year the sadness was to be deepened by the absence of the forty-fourth.

The Church of England’s long and widespread experience of sharing the common Eucharistic Cup is worth noting (as is its long experience and Orthodoxy’s of married priests). In a relatively very small number of cases, a person at times may choose for good reason not to receive the Cup (“Cleaning the chalice”, Letters, 8 November)

John Hills provides a much needed objective analysis (The Tablet, 22 November) to counter the false perceptions about welfare spending ardently encouraged by those politicians imposing austerity with tax cuts for the wealthy and benefit cuts for the poorest.

Dr Alfred Layton's letter (The Tablet, 22 November) advocating Communion under both species by means of intinction as a "very simple solution" [to squeamishness about receiving the Eucharist from the same vessel] had its own problems at the 2012 International Eucharistic Congress in Dublin.

I enjoyed reading Ted Harrison’s article “Between the crosses, row on row” (The Tablet, 8 November). I found it informative and challenging, especially last paragraph where he posed the question “How do we honour the sacrifices of those killed in war while abhorring war itself?”

It has always seemed to me to be a sad thing, mystifying, that pilgrims on a journey in faith such as Hilary Langden and her husband (The Tablet, Letters, 25 October) should, sooner or later, find the possibility of being admitted to full Communion with the Catholic Church stymied by the revelation to them of an irregularity in Canon Law which now convicts them of a "sin" of which they were conscientiously ignorant over 30 years of marriage.

I read with some joy and some disquiet the words of Pope Francis in the last edition of The Tablet: "Personally I would be very worried and saddened...if all were...silent in a false and quietist peace... And I have felt that what was set before our eyes was the good of the Church, of families..."

Reading recent correspondence in The Tablet about the predicament of remarried divorcees, I have been struck again by the way the Church has stymied itself by insisting on trying to squeeze people in to the straitjacket of doctrinal rules rather than working to accommodate the rules to people's real lives (the so-called 'pastoral' approach).

Christopher Lamb ("Open to the voice of the future", The Tablet, 11 October) writes eloquently on the proceedings of the Synod on the Family. He quotes Archbishop John Dew as saying that the Vatican II teaching on collegiality is close to the heart of Pope Francis and "that he wants to use this Synod to express that and put it into action".

I read with great interest the article (“Catholic peer condemns lack of active women at family synod”, The Tablet, 11 October). I could not agree more and the ratio of women attendees at the Family Synod is disappointing and disheartening. Hopefully this state of affairs will be addressed next year when they convene again.

Of course we English could follow the modern fashion for demanding our “rights” (“England Arise”, 11 October), like children in a playground: "’Tisn't fair. Everyone else has got a parliament. We want a parliament."

Nicholas Boyle's excursus into history ("England arise," The Tablet, 11 October) was wanting in any reference to the Norman Conquest of England and, some hundred odd years later, Ireland, as contributory in the making of England's pre-eminence in the unification of the Britannic Islands, as Aristotle called them.

I read with interest Jack Valero’s article on Bishop Alvero del Portillo (The Tablet, 27 September) but was struck by the phrase that the 1917 Code of Canon Law “considered lay people as receivers of the sacraments, particularly marriage, the sacrament that most distinguishes them”. (Note the present tense).

The polluted centre of London taken together with a mean temperature 3 degrees C warmer than the UK average, should ordain an ecosystem that has long collapsed. This would be a reasonable conclusion based on Mary Colwell’s article “Creation in Peril” (The Tablet, 11 October 2014).

I am writing a book on the single practising Catholic laywoman. So far I have received contributions from many women in UK, Australia and the US but I would be grateful for more contributions from women under 40 and from women in other countries.

Margaret A. Farley (The Tablet, 27 Sept), in her article in support to homosexual marriage, writes: "Today the meanings of gender have become sufficiently problematised that gender difference cannot simply be assumed as central to marriage in the same way as it has been in the past."

To plagiarise Margaret Farley's mention of the importance of time within us in her article on the moral validity of same-sex marriage (27th September), I have never understood the moral approval of same-sex marriage.

Cardinal Gerhard Müller correctly insists that the Catholic tradition has always committed itself to the indissolubility of marriage. The origin of the Church’s teaching is found in Jesus’ debate with the Pharisees reported in Mark 10:1-12. As well as Mark 10:5-9, prohibition of divorce is found in the gospel text known as Q (Matt 5:32; Luke 16:18). Paul (1 Cor 7:10-11) regards the prohibition of divorce as “a word of the Lord”.

The problem of Bishop Bonny’s position [noting a demise in collegiality between the end of the Second Vatican Council and the publication of Humanae Vitae] (The Tablet, 13 September) is that bishops at the Council were unlikely to challenge the papal teaching of Pope Pius XI or Pius XII, who had expressly forbidden the use of the Pill in a little known address to haematologists the year he died.

Daniel O’Leary's very significant contributions in your paper on "New windows open to the faith” (The Tablet, 20 September) and his previous "Divine evolution" are as timely as they are urgent and challenging.

Hannah Roberts reported from Rome (The Tablet, 6 September) that Cardinal Parolin “has indicated that the main focus of the synod [of bishops on the family] may not be the reforms that some in the Church hope for, but the legal and cultural threats to the family itself.”

You report (The Tablet, 30 August) that falling numbers of vocations could see "ancient parishes wiped out" in Ireland, that a paltry 17 men will join Maynooth seminary this year, three less than the miserly 20 the previous year, and that the only action being considered by Church authorities is to appoint vocation directors "to encourage those considering the call of the Lord". We all know that this is the situation right across the rest of Europe and the States.

Many people who either live or work in or near Walsingham, or who worship at or visit the Marian shrines there, would not recognise the Walsingham that Peter Stanford describes in his article (The Tablet, 23 August).

I was saddened to read the letter from Msgr Basil Loftus (The Tablet, 23 August) encouraging parishes to disobey the liturgical laws of the Church and take us back to the bad old days of liturgical chaos, when it was common for parishes to “experiment” with the liturgy.

I read with interest your recent feature High and sacred calling [The Tablet, 26 July]. My first point is to say to author Anne Inman that marriage preparation and in particular, preparation at Marriage Care here in Chelmsford, Essex has changed a bit in the past 44 years since she attended her course.

I fully agree with Professor Tina Beattie [The Tablet, 16 August] that Sensus Fidei in the Life of the Church, produced by the International Theological Commission, deserves to be widely read and discussed. However, the responses to the Bishop’s questionnaire on family life and marriage are not the result of Sensus Fidei but simply reflect public opinion, and one must distinguish between the two, as the ITC itself recognises.

Having read Fr Gerald O’Collins’ comments on the Congregation for Divine Worship’s latest instruction to the bishops (Letters, The Tablet, 9 August), I would like to shout three cheers and wave the flags for him.

With regard to Bruce Kent’s letter (The Tablet, 9 August), it should be noted that the occupation of Gaza ended in 2005, and the sole cause of the remaining restrictions is the hostility and rockets of Hamas.

If the over-hopeful report noted by Jim Neilan (Letters, The Tablet, 9 August) proves to be correct and a special Church Synod made up of married women and men chosen from each of the continents to regulate the lives of celibate clerics does indeed take place in 2015, may I suggest that a couple be invited to attend who, by choice, have no children.

Having been looking forward to Professor Rafferty’s article on Catholic chaplains in the First World War, ("With God at their side", The Tablet, 1 August) I was sad to read something that, whilst showing the importance of Catholic chaplains, was so ill informed about the nature of their organisation.

We would disagree with Austen Ivereigh's statement (written in response to Peter Stanford’s column (The Tablet, 26 July) that the Church's opposition to gay marriage is not homophobic. The Church's stance needs to be put in its historical context.

Peter Simmons is wrong in arguing that marriage and priesthood are two separate vocations (The Tablet, 26 July). All Christians are called to an exclusive and unconditional love for Christ and His Church.

It is interesting to compare the way parishes are run in different parts of the world. In South Korea, parish councils have been part of the parish structure for decades and it would be most unusual for a new parish priest to come in and simply abolish it, one reason being that he'd then have to do all the work in the parish by himself.

Your editorial (The Tablet, 17 July) asserts that the decision of the General Synod to allow women to be ordained as bishops in the Church of England "was the logical consequence of the same body to ordain women as priests made in 1992".

Congratulations on highlighting Chris McDonnell’s excellent article (The Tablet, 19 July). The article states facts too often ignored about the historically late origins of the celibacy law for Roman rite priests.

Translations have normally two purposes: (1) Literal translation is mostly meant for scholars to understand, identify and interpret the various meanings of the words used by the original writer. (2) Free translation is mostly meant for common people to easily understand the meaning of the original text.

Reading the Instrumentum Laboris this week brought memories of question 1b in the questionnaire, where the choice was an either/or answer, either full acceptance of the Church's teaching or difficulty putting it into practice. No sense in the question that perhaps certain propositions in the Church's moral teaching could sometimes not be accepted fully because of a shaky theological/philosophical basis which contravenes people's experiences and/or reasoning.

Concerning mindfulness (The Tablet, 5 July), some techniques from this ancient practice are now available through the NHS to help those with mental health problems, stress and the many physical conditions caused or worsened by stress. This is an effective cost-free and medication-free “treatment” that can be integrated into daily life.

I read with interest in the press today that the Pope is continuing to show concern for those who suffer sexual abuse by priests and determination to rid the church of these abusive men. This is good news.

Having been dogged by anxiety and depression all my life but now depression free for seven years, I have reason to be thankful to Mark Williams, John Teasdale and Zindel Segal for the development of secular mindfulness.

I refer to Mary Geoghegan’s letter (“Unaccountable parish priest”, The Tablet, 28 June ). A similar situation applies in our parish. The incoming parish priest has removed the free-standing altar, installed rails and derides the Second Vatican Council.

Parish priests are unaccountable. A bishop once explained to me that it is the prerogative of the Bishop to appoint Parish Priests but once appointed they are not subject to detailed day to day scrutiny.

It is disappointing that the Vatican response to the questionnaire on marriage matters seems to comprise only persuading the faithful to accept Church teaching and to condemn less those who find it difficult to follow (The Tablet, 28 June).

I am extremely concerned by the following statement, made recently by an official spokesperson of the Anglican Cathedral in Leicester, concerning the planned nature of the proposed reburial of King Richard III

It appears that the followers of the Natural Law theory, and the followers of Grisez's "New Natural Law" theory, both agree that contraception and abortion are wrong (The Tablet, 7/06/14). However, each group believes that the others' arguments and the philosophical routes by which these conclusions are reached, are incorrect .

There is a solution to the "vexed question" of celebrating Holydays on the nearest Sunday rather than the "correct" day (The Tablet, 31 May), however it is only available to those who live in an area where the extraordinary form of Mass is celebrated.

James Kelly draws attention to the number of bishops drawn from religious orders (Letters, May 15). Orthodox bishops have to be monks. Since their priests are allowed only one marriage, widowed priests can take monastic vows – and so are eligible to become bishops.

I am afraid that my teeth are too few and my flesh too old and tough for me to attempt to bite my arm off; Clifford Longley (The Tablet, 31 May), is clearly more of the spring chicken than I had thought.

Catherine Pepinster in her column (24 May) suggests Pope Francis should change the form of address for priests from “Father” to “Teacher”. The former Council Father, Bishop Remi De Roo, at the age of 90, said when we met him in Bristol recently that he wished to be addressed simply as Remi.

Joanna Moorhead (The Tablet, 17 May) writes of prayer, “it’s about faith, and only that”. I waited for the next edition of The Tablet, but though her piece is responded to, I humbly suggest that within its context there is a little more than might have been added.

Inflated house prices have become a cash cow for the Exchequer, as you say (The Tablet, 24 May). More than that, we have become a nation of property speculators – whether sitting tight, trading-up, or starting with the help of a granny who covers our mortgage deposit.

Further to your brief Notebook piece on Sally Gross (The Tablet, 17 May), your readers may be interested to know that an important aspect of Sally’s work was drawing attention to the spiritual and religious exclusion faced by many intersex people (whose bodies have a mixture of male and female characteristics).

In the context of exploring helpful questions about the role of the laity in the Church, Catherine Pepinster asks how the Church conceives of single people having anything to offer (The Tablet, 24 May).

When I was a little boy in the early 1950s, serving Mass daily and hero-worshipping my Irish parish priest, I supposed, as most English Catholics seemed to suppose, that all priests had emerged from some self-replenishing pool of male celibates.

David Cameron’s claim that England is in essence a Christian country has raised an interesting dialogue and some hostility. I take it that the Prime Minister was not referring to Sunday church congregations but to some general sense that Christianity colours the lived experience of a majority of UK citizens.

We live in what used to be deemed sheltered housing and three years ago the warden was made redundant. Absolutely no systems were put in place with a view to caring for the more frail and vulnerable residents here.

Nicholas Kennedy’s article (The Tablet, 17 May) about the handing over of Sacred Heart Roman Catholic school in Blackburn to the pastoral care of the Church of England in the Diocese of Blackburn, because of a majority Muslim presence, is a wake up call to us all.

I was somewhat surprised to see no reaction to the letter of Penrovius Miles Cambrensis (The Tablet, 26 April) in connection with what he refers to as the "desperately unsingable" new version of the Exultet at the Easter Vigil Mass. For me, it raises three questions.

With all this talk about whether Britain is still to be called a Christian country, it seems to me that certain historical distinctions have to be drawn. First, there is no doubt that England (rather than “Britain”) is traditionally a Christian country, claiming a faith that reaches back to the days of St Augustine (of Canterbury).

Howsoever Fiona Lynch (Letters, 10 May) may seek to explain the state of celibacy required of candidates for the priesthood, it is, of course, mandated. Church law states it as a sine qua non for ordination.

As an ex-police officer and now Catholic headmaster, I am well aware of the potential dangers of running an institution comprising several hundred young, and therefore vulnerable, people who are being asked to do a range of things, some of which they would most probably not wish to do.

At no point in his letter ("Reinstate laicised priests", April 26) does Fr Edward Butler mention marriage, but I assume that when he argues for non-mandatory celibacy, he is saying that priests should be allowed to marry.

I read with interest the item on male knitters (Notebook, 3 May) and also DJ Taylor’s Arts page ("Gripping Yarn"), which took me back to my own interest in the craft which was influenced by our male doctor friend, a keen knitter, Dr Marcus Broadbent, while we lived in Kenya.

I was saddened to read about the plight of the Northern dioceses, ("Northern dioceses feel the pinch, The Tablet, 26 April.) The long and vibrant history of Catholicism in the North makes it all the more difficult to witness.

I have no objection to there being married priests. However, such a change would be impossible without more generous financial support from the laity, unless, of course, priests would be supported by their wives.

It is, with the greatest respect, misleading for Edmund Adamus, (Letters, 19 April) to pretend that "whoever Pope Francis appoints as the next Bishop of Salford has no choice but to live [at Wardley Hall] according to the terms of the purchase during the 1930s".

Do I misunderstand Linda Woodhead's position as being inconsistent when she states ("Stand up for moderation", The Tablet, 12 April) states that “majority opinion is being swamped by small and unrepresentative groups with strongly illiberal agendas”.

I found it wonderful, in the admirable sense, that Clifford Longley expressed so freely (“It was something God did to me” The Tablet, 5 April 2014) the decisions he made whilst converting from being an atheist to becoming part of the Catholic Church.

It is interesting to note Bishop Marc Aillet of Bayonne said that Metropolitan Hilarion of the Moscow Patriarchate was particularly “interested in the ‘Demo for All’ protests in France against gay marriage and adoption” (The Tablet, 12 April).

David Blair's exposition of the immorality of nuclear weapons (in his article “Putin possesses avowedly expansionist goals and the world's largest nuclear arsenal", 29 March) is a reason for cautious rejoicing.

Canon David Grant makes an understandable point (The Tablet, 29 March) in reply to Joanna Moorhead’s column (22 March) about getting young people to attending Mass, but the implied dynamic remains “we’re waiting for them to come to us”.

All true alumni of St Aloysius’ College in Highgate, north London, will be delighted to see both their Alumni Archbishops – Malcolm McMahon of Liverpool and George Stack of Cardiff – getting “the smell of the sheep” (The Tablet, 29 March).

Regarding Bishop Egan's suggestion to deny the Sacraments to MPs who voted for same-sex marriage, I note that no one appears to be considering the excommunication of any Catholic MP or peer from the Coalition who voted for the barbaric cuts in welfare benefit which have been instituted recently.

Joanna Moorhead is right when she says that “the music-makers in most parishes wouldn’t know Ed Sheeran if he walked up to the altar” (The Tablet, 22 March) and she points to the attraction of Pentecostal music.

Your editorial “Marriage and the real world” (The Tablet, 15 March) states: “The successful navigation of long-term loving relationships is difficult, yet lies at the heart of most people's quest for happiness. They need the right help and guidance.”

There is an important omission in James Macintyre's article on Jewish and Muslim slaughter of animals (The Tablet, 15 March). This is that the case for it being more, and not less, humane than pre-stunning, based on close observation of the two methods, not only by Jews and Muslims.

Whatever one thought of Tony Benn’s political views, you couldn’t fail to recognise his sincerity and unswerving commitment to causes for a better, more just society, be it support for a unionised workforce or a determined opposition to nuclear weapons and to apartheid in South Africa.